Tuesday, December 08, 2015

White Christian Terrorists, Warns Maine Principal

While making a Facebook post in support of Democrat presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, Piet Lammert, Assistant Principal at Camden Hills Regional High School in Rockport, Maine, warned readers of white Christian male terrorists. The superintendent of Five Town Community School District (Camden, Maine) has announced that the hullabaloo that erupted locally over this public commentary should be considered over now that Lammert has apologized.

The only terrorists we need to fear are domestic white “Christian” men with easy access to guns. Vote Bernie - That is all. Enjoy your day.-- Piet Lammert, Facebook 11/28/15

The post has been removed, but the community is still talking about it.

The superintendent of the school system, Maria Libby, says the comment made by Piet Lammert is not indicative of the person or administrator he is. Still, the community says his post was just inappropriate.

The superintendent says she knows Lammert well and says the post was an error in judgement.

Libby says this situation isn't a matter of free speech. She says Lammert is an administrator and therefore should not post things of this nature.

Five-Town Community School District Superintendent Maria Libby said Wednesday she received telephone calls and emails from concerned parents and others about Lammert’s comments.

“As superintendent, I have looked into the issue and am taking appropriate action,” Libby said. “As you know, I am unable to share the details because it is a personnel issue. I will say that I know Piet, and he is someone who genuinely accepts all people. The Five-Town CSD is committed to providing an atmosphere open to all students, families and staff and has a well-earned reputation for doing so.”

When reached Friday, Lammert said he posted an apology on his Facebook page that morning and would be sharing the statement in an email to parents.

I am writing to take responsibility and apologize for a post that I made on my private Facebook account yesterday. I mistakenly left my setting open to “Public” and in doing so made a post that offended some members of our community and beyond. I deeply regret doing so, take full responsibility, and hope that those I offended will accept my apology.

With true humility, I write to apologize for the offensive statement that I recently posted on Facebook. I did not intend this statement literally when I wrote it–it was an exaggeration–but soon after realized that it was unintentionally hurtful, offensive, and divisive at a time when more than ever we need compassion and understanding.

In short, I did not mean what I said and wish with all my heart that I could take it back. But I need to take responsibility for it nonetheless, because I wrote it. It does not represent who I am or what I believe, but I wrote it. This post is an effort to at least begin to make amends.

Had I simply written what I meant, the post would have reflected my urgent distress at the epidemic of mass violence in our country, which more recent events have proven to span all social groups. Ironically, in my effort to point out that we run the risk of simplifying the problem by singling out a particular ethnic group, I did exactly that to the group to which I belong. It was careless and rash.

Maria Libby, the superintendent of the school system, criticized the Facebook post but defended Lammert's character.

"He understands that he made a mistake and he has tried to take responsibility for that," Libby told FoxNews.com Tuesday -- though she added, "I don’t think that everyone in the community would say it’s resolved."

"I think that there are people in the community who are quite upset over the post and may not be happy unless that assistant principal is fired," she said.

Libby said the situation has been handled appropriately but did not provide details on what actions were taken. She said he will not be fired.